Posted By:
Al C.risafulliI can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm in total agreement with Frank. While there's certainly some value to my collection, and while I occasionally sell parts of it, I don't consider it to be my savings. My savings exist in more traditional vehicles. If I buy a baseball card I buy it with disposable income that I would otherwise spend frivolously.
A year ago or so, I was considering selling my entire collection to fund the purchase of a beach house. I am SO glad that I didn't do it. I'd be underwater on a mortgage today, and I would have no baseball cards. I would have traded something that has a DEEP personal value to me, for a big mortgage and a two-week annual vacation.
While I definitely acknowledge that there's a certain degree of monetary value to some of the items in my collection, I just can't look at it that way. The day I start looking at it that way, I'm out of the hobby.
-Al